A flood of new voters expected at the polls Tuesday is creating some uncertainty in the bruising rematch between Mark Ridley-Thomas and Bernard Parks for a South Bay seat on the powerful county Board of Supervisors.

Ridley-Thomas, a state senator, bested Parks, a Los Angeles city councilman, 45 to 40 percent in the June primary election. Because neither candidate scored a majority in the primary, they face each other again in next week’s runoff.

But the turnout on Tuesday is expected to be three or four times higher than it was in June, including tens of thousands of newly registered voters — the vast majority of whom are likely to be most focused on voting for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

Parks believes those voters will favor him because he has higher name recognition from his years as Los Angeles police chief. Ridley-Thomas and his supporters, meanwhile, have worked to win over those voters by painting Parks as a closet Republican.

Ridley-Thomas enjoys overwhelming financial support from labor groups, giving him the air of a front-runner in the race to succeed Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who is retiring from her 2nd District seat after 16 years.

In one mailer from the independent labor group supporting him, Parks is pictured next to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Though Parks is a Democrat and a longtime Obama supporter, Ridley-

Thomas defends the attack by pointing to Parks’ language on the campaign trail, such as when the councilman accuses him of supporting “job killer” bills in the Legislature.

“The rhetoric he uses symbolizes that of the right wing of the Republican Party,” Ridley-Thomas said. “That’s the language they use against Democrats. They call them job killers.”

Parks fires back, noting that during the primary Ridley-Thomas paid to appear on a mailer aimed at Republican voters. The mailer praised Ronald Reagan and was titled “Continuing the Republican Revolution.”

“There’s nothing in my record that says I’m even close to being a Republican,” Parks said. “They’re actually trying to get the least thoughtful voter.”

The attack is a potentially potent one because the Democrats outnumber Republicans more than five to one in the district, which stretches from Compton to Culver City and includes, Carson, Hawthorne, Lawndale and Gardena.

Parks, however, is counting on increased turnout from Republican voters who would be more likely to support him thanks to his law-and-order credentials.

Linda Boyd, chairwoman of the county Republican Party, said she hesitated to praise Parks because it might hurt his chances. But she said Republican voters will balk at Ridley-Thomas because of his lavish support from labor.

“Ridley-Thomas is extremely liberal,” she said. “Parks is going to be more for the people and less for special interests.”

The Alliance for a Stronger Community – a coalition of labor groups – has raised more than $8.1 million this year as part of an independent effort to elect Ridley-Thomas. By contrast, Ridley-Thomas’ own campaign has raised slightly less than $1million.

Parks has the financial backing of business groups, but lags well behind Ridley-Thomas’ independent support. People for Jobs and Safe Neighborhoods — which is running a TV ad attacking Ridley-Thomas and touting Parks’ endorsement from Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson — has raised a mere $338,000 this year.

Parks’ own campaign has raised $1.2million, but owes nearly $400,000.

Parks has attempted to turn that adversity to his advantage by hammering Ridley-Thomas over his connection to Tyrone Freeman, the former head of a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union who was forced to step aside in a financial scandal. Freeman took part in the labor coalition that assisted Ridley-Thomas in the primary campaign.

“How can he stand by and allow $9-an-hour employees to be victimized by Tyrone Freeman?” Parks asked.

Ridley-Thomas has declined to criticize Freeman, saying he is innocent until proven guilty.

“That’s just opportunism on his part,” Ridley-Thomas said. “They have no other issue. They have seized on this one issue like a dog on a bone, only to realize it’s a non-issue to the voters.”

Dermot Givens, a lawyer and political consultant who used to work for Parks, said neither campaign had done a good enough job attaching itself to Obama — though both have tried.

But he predicted that Ridley-Thomas would win, thanks to a better-run campaign and because Parks has surrounded himself with figures like Burke, Johnson and Rep. Maxine Waters.

“He’s surrounded himself with the old guard,” he said. “This is an election cycle for change.”

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